The third and final part in my mini series looking at some names to keep in mind as the Cardinals head into an offseason full of question marks.
We’ve “Armed the rotation” and “built the bullpen,” now let’s
turn our attention to the players responsible for scoring runs on a nightly basis for this team. This will be a challenging area to predict what the team will do, given the plethora of paths, varying performances from everyday regulars, and the new crew evaluating talent on the roster. Let’s get after it! I’ll start with the Catchers and work my way around the horn, and offer some thoughts or possibilities as we cross them.
Catchers
Ivan Herrera, Pedro Pages, and Yohel Pozo are the incumbents in this group, and youngster Jimmy Crooks had a shaky start to his big league career. The Cardinals also have to add fellow catching prospect Leonardo Bernal to the 40-man roster this offseason or risk exposing him to the Rule 5 draft! Five catchers on the roster does not exactly make the most sense. The Cardinals are going to give Ivan Herrera every chance to stick at catcher this winter and spring, but who knows beyond that. Pedro Pages draws the ire of a large portion of the fan base due to his light-hitting nature. Though I would contend he was simply exposed in the role he was thrust into, given the nature of Herrera’s injury problems this season. As a 77 wRC+ hitter for the season, that’s not a guy you want playing 120 games a year, but could he play 60-70 games and not hurt you? Sure!
Then there’s the lethal right-handed bat off the bench in Yohel Pozo. He seemed to fill the offensive role Luken Baker was intended to at the beginning of the season. Pozo doesn’t swing and miss very often and is completely allergic to walks. That said, if the Cardinals kept him as a potential bench bat/AAA depth, I think that would be fine. But, if they decided to trade or release him, I could also under the logic behind that as well.
Jimmy Crooks is the true wild card of the group in my eyes. He was solid defensively but had no offense to speak of. Crooks posted a wRC+ of 5 in his 46 PA sample size. SMALL SAMPLE ALERT! Maybe, though if you follow other Cardinals content creators, who focus on the minor leagues, theyd tell you that Crooks struggles to control the strike zone from an offensive perspective have been well documented and that it is a chronic concern for him. Pages July was abysmal resluting in -19 wRC+ but outside of that and his random incredible month of August posting a 200 wRC+ he hovered between 50-80 wRC+ which is an acceptable back up, glove first, catcher. Given that Bernal should spend the entirety of 2026 in AAA there really isnt room for Crooks to return there and there isnt really room at the big league level knowing that the Cardinals love Pages, despite fan reservations, which leads me to believe Crooks will be trade bait this offseason, perhaps in search of young controllable pitching who could also be struggling to break through to a teams big league staff.
Infield
I do expect a lot of pushback from this section, and that’s okay, so let’s just start where we can all agree or at least 90% + of us agree. Nolan Arenado is going to (actually) be traded this offseason, Masyn Winn is your starting Shortstop, and barring the stars aligning Willson Contreras will be your first basemen. That leaves 2nd and 3rd base as openings on the infield for JJ Wetherholt, Brendan Donovan, Thomas Saggese, Nolan Gorman.
It is yet to be discovered, though I do intend on finding out from internal sources one way or another, what the new regime values MORE. Is it going to be service time or opportunity to earn additional draft capitol? If the Cardinals view themselves as multiple seasons away from true contention that an additional year of service time from holding JJ back at the begining of the season would be unpopular, but, strategically sound in keeping him in the birds on the bat for an additional season. Or, if JJ is as good as we all think he is capable of being in his rookie season. He has to be early odds on favorite for the NL ROTY which would net the Cardinals additional draft capitol for a team that is vigorously leaning into the “draft and develop” strategy moving forward. Finding out which ideology Chaim Bloom subscribes to helps us determine further clarity on this position group. If you hold JJ back there is room for all 3 players on the roster. If you push him to the majors on opening day you have a log jam and would need to move on from one of Donovan or Gorman.
This is where I expect significant pushback, so Jdog break out the torches and pitchfork GIF’s because Id keep Donovan in that scenerio thats possible to playout this offseason. We saw both players take steps forward the first half of this season. Donovan regressed because of injury and Gorman because I believe this is just who Gorman is. At the time he was traded, Dylan Carlson had more than 1500 PA as a Cardinal and pretty much universally we all felt comfortable saying we knew what he was and it wasnt what the Cardinals, or the fans, hoped he would be. Nolan Gorman has 1581 career plate appearances and was barely above replacement level this season and was below replacement level in 2024. You have to go back to 2023 when he post 2.3 fWAR the last time he was an actual productive player.
Meanwhile, you have a player in Brendan Donovan who is the heart and soul of this club, earned his first of what I expect to be multiple All Star appearances, even in the middle of injury stricken seasons has yet to post a wRC+ below 115, and has been a 3 win player each of the last 2 seasons and you could make an argument he had a chance to be that in 2023 if not for injury shortening his season and in 2022 had he had the full season on the roster not being called up until early May. Donovan is consistent, solid, and a steady presence that is BENEFICIAL to a culture trying to usher in young talent. I know he’s getting closer to free agency but I would extend Donovan and buy out his remaining 2 years of arbitration and 3 of his free agency years. That would take him up to his age 33 season and you can then make a decision to keep him longer or walk away knowing you got the prime years of his career before the agining curve could potentially start to cause a decline in play. If he’s willing to take a hometown discount and live in the 12 to 15 million AAV range I think the Cardinals would be shrude to lock him up. If Donnie wants market rate I think you trade him and cash out on the asset. But, lets not pretend that a below market value contract that still compensates Donovan well wouldnt be the ideal outcome for a team trying to build itself back up and has stated it doesnt intend to concede anything.
Not to make Saggese the afterthought in this whole process but you get a solid part time right handed hitting high bat to ball skill infielder who can play multiple positions and if he can take a step forward like Burleson did this season in pitch selection and not just hitting the ball because he can get to it there is more damage potential in his bat that could be a welcome surprise. His glove is average and may flash above at times but he’s a solid complimentary player as is.
OUTFIELD
Lars Nootbaar, Victor Scott II, Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson, Nathan Church. Those are the 5 names that comprised the majority of the outfield reps last season. With 2 season remaining until free agency I think its safe to say that the Cardinals will move on from Lars Nootbaar this offseason and Alec Burleson will be your primary left fielder/DH going into next season with Victor Scott in CF and Chaim Bloom recently spoke on the Gashouse Gang on KMOX and made it sound as though the Cardinals are going to give Jordan Walker the offseason to get himself right and run it back in RF. Nathan Church is your ideal 4th outfielder/pinch runner possesing high end defensive traits and above average speed but didnt display much with the bat and perhaps a full season of big league exposure could lead to more but for now he appears destined for that role breaking camp.
It’s no secret that the Cardinals are currently projected short on the pitching side and the one of the local sports talk radio shows suggested an idea that is stuck in my head. On BK and Ferrario on 101.1 ESPN they suggested using Lars Nootbaar the same way that Cincinnati used Jonathon India last offseason to acquire Brady Singer. Perhaps, in a hypothetical swap the Cardinals could send Lars Nootbaar to Atlanta (who just outrighted Jarred Kelenic and Marcell Ozuna is a FA) for SP Grant Holmes (not a free agent until 2031) and AAA LHP Hayden Harris (t-95 MPH FB from a 17 degree arm angle) to replace John King as your 2nd lefty in your bullpen. I wont dive too deeply into this hypothetical I’ll let you all feast on the meat remaining of that bone.
There aren’t obvious holes on the positon player side to address when it comes to adding external talent but there are places on the roster it will be fascinating to see how they value them internally. The Cardinals could conceivably add a RHH player who can play the outfield (Michael Helman was a good identified player the Cardinals gave up on too soon.) Im sure we can discuss those names when non tenders and rule 5 names become clearer but for now thats a vast chasm of names that is litteraly throwing a dart into a black hole hoping to hit something. But, as far as sexy pazzazz names the Cardinals could add it really should be addition by subtraction for the offensive side of the roster and perhaps they go further on that endeavor than we all expect which would create an opening for an unexpected opportunity type player, who knows! I hope this little series helped to shape expectations rationally enough as to what direction the tea leaves are reading right now. I dont forsee anything earth shattering taking place this offseason for the birds on the bat but I do expect them to be active and should give us plenty of bird seed to chew on this offseason.
-Thanks for reading
